vaffdeb -weyde



I P. H. .VAND-EB WEYDE. MAKING AND USING NITROUS OXID GAS.

No. 62,094. v v PatentdPeb. 12,. 1867,

F a E M a; 5

E E L- E 'tstss istsnt @titse P. H. VANDEE -WEYDE, M, 13., 9F PHILADELPHIA, E ENNSY LVANIA. Letters Patent No. 62,994, dated February 12, 1867; aeatedm'ccl January 30, 1867 IMPROVEEEET Ill HAKING AND USING HITROUS OXIIlh G AS.

(the fizlguule mimetic in lips: 53mm gaunt ant making out ti it: same.

Be it known that H. VANDEE WEYDE, ill)" oi Philadelphia, State of lennsylvouinyhave inyehted new and improved Method oi Making end Using Ilitrous Oxide for the following purposes: I

1. For unzestatic use (luring surgical operations. V

2. As a powerful unti-spssmodic in case of cholern typhoid or yelloie fever, Stc.

3. For the Drummond or calcium light, as asubstitute foroxygen in magic lanterns, light-houses, the.

4. For the hydro-oxygen blow-pipe, to melt platinum, 86c. i 5. As u compact substitute for the bulky oxygen, (which cannot he liquefied or much cor'uleusech) in oxydizmg processes.

6. As a disinfectant, one-substitute for ozone.

7: For bleaching, as on oirl to chlorine.

BfAs a conservator of force; by being compressedby a steam forcepurnp, it will give the power back with whichit "was compressed, at any time, by its eupansiva capacity, acting like an enormous spring wound up.

The nature of my invention, consists chiefiy'inthe practical application, on slsrge scale, of the property discovered by modern chemistry, that nitrous oxifle gels may be condensed to the liquid state at h temperature of 32 F.,- &H(1-& pressure of thirty-two atmospheres. This remarkable property was thus for only known as u scientific curiosity, and nopsu'ticuler use whatever has been madethereoi'. It has lately also been proved that nitrous oxide is the best antestntic known, possessing none of the injurious effects and dangers to life connected with ether and chloroform, being itself asupporter of combustion cool of life, whereas ether and chloroform are combustihle bodies, non-supportera of combustion, our consequently extinguishers of life, or suil'ocators. It has also been prove-d that nitrous oxide is a powerfuloge nt to break up spusms in typhoid fevers, and other iiisecscs, andqprbbsbly will be one ofiths best. remedial agents (luring the first estoehof cholera. The only reason that its use has not at once become universal is, the trouble of preparing, the enormous spec-o it occupies, (six to eight gollons for. a full dose,) and the impossibility of keeping it a long time. These grove objections I ovei c'ome' by condensing eight hundred gallons in the space of a single gallon, by liqucl'ying it under pressure. As it can be kept in this way for any'lsngth of time, it msy be prepared on s large scale, and sent by express to any part of the country, curried on shiphoard, &c., ajo'r of one gnllon beingsuiiicient for one hundred to two hundred full tioses, and may benefit two huud red to four hundred patients. The gueut'colcl produced by the expansion of the liquid is o. perfect protection against explosions. By its change from the liquid to the gaseous form it absorbs so much heat, (which is made latent in the escaping gas,)- that its temperature, as well as the temperature of the remaining liquid, is so enormously reduced that its further evaporation is powerfully checked, ami takes place surprisingly sloyi. It has also been foundthut this gas is as powerful a supporter of combustion as pure oxygen. This is explained by the fact that the oxygen in this gas is not in is somewhat neutral state, suit is in pure'oxygen, but in c more ectivocondition', like it is in oz one. Being combined already with a bofly of weak chemicui afiinities, it has stronger tendencies to enter into a. new combination, after a universal,

- well-established chemical law, This causes, that notwithstanding it contains only one-third of its volume of pu reoxygen, its afiiuities, (that is, its powers of combineti on,) are equally strong, and in many instances stronger than thoscoof pure oxygen itself. In ozone, which is a yery unstable compound of hydrogen with five atoms of oxygeuJzIO, (usmuu'e highlyprobahle by Bunsen,) the greater part of the oxygen is in the some active fcouditi'on, the compound HO, -io 'reduce l to H0 and O 'that is, water, vapor, 33ml oxygen, which, in its 'uoscent state, much more reuiiily-enters in new combinations than pure oxygen; anti by this action the ozone becomes one of the powerful scavengers of octane;- In the some way, when u. burning body is plunged in an atmosphere of nitrous oxide, the oxygen, in leaving its combination vrith the-nitrogen, is in the same nascent state as in ozone, and enters more resclily in new-combinations thalu pure un combined oxygen Therefore, nitrous oxide is not only'os goods. supporter of combustion as pu'reoir'ygcn, but us well a disinfectant as ozone.

Those who suppose thot'oiobe is on allotrcpic, or u more eleotro positive condition of oxygen, msy exploin the i factof its disiufecting,'properties in their own way. As nitrous oxide has saweet taste and ugreeubleiodor, it is'an excellent remedy after the use of the cheaper chlorine and the powerful bromine, of which, by the way, the price is higher than that of the liquid nitrous voxide. In using oxygen for Drummond or calcium lights,

we meet with the sometroubleof properution, bulk of the gas in keeping, and difliculty of preserving The best mode at presentih useis to condense the gas in large cylinders at upressure of twenty or thirty utmosphcres,but M this gas csnn'ht be liquefied, there is a limit to its condensation, the pressure increasing with the amount compressed in a ratio approximately expressed by the law of Marietta. The nitrous oxide gas, however, beinigliquefioble, as scoii as we have reached the point-of liquefaction a furthcrincrease of pressure becomes impossible, all pressure above thirty-two atmospheres simply liquefying the excess of gas, the expansive force of the liquid never reaching above that point when kept at :1 temperature of 32 F, and averaging to about forty-live to fifty atmosohorss'iu: the summer heet. We have time here a substitute for oxygen gas in tb'eliquidfogm which, by simply 62,; g opening e stop-cock, will give, from c one-gollonjar, the quantity 0? eight h'uudredgallons gee, sufieeut teem;- rcin c Drummond or calcium light for the average time oi forty-eight hours, longer or shorter, ua'rproportiou to the size of the jet us'ed. When rho gas. evolving from this liquid is used for tbe bydrogen blorv pipc, for which it as good as pure oxygen, we see the curious phenomenon of producing the greatest heat cube 'i'et, n'herewe may ,meli platinum, and the greatest cold at the reservoir of the liquid gee, where we may freeze mercury, a: the enmc'thne and by the some operation. In feet the evaporation of'this liqnidn'ithdrewa the best from it, and "from all bodies in contact with it; .carries this heat latent ip tbeges lo the jet, and ears this-heal, with the electric heat of combusrion, free at the place where it supports combustion. theory in, that the best ond'liglit from the sun are not stored up in the combustible substances, as cool and wood, during she growth, as new universally adopted. but that they are stored up in the oxygen, which ie not irceoduring active-vegetation. The expensive force oi the liquefied-nitrous oxide gas may also be used as n stereo! power. It .e il! expend like an enormous compressed spring, and the power'ot n fen cylinders twontyieet long drive nsmcll rcilrncde ar in its tour through the city. To efi'ect this, I propose to fill e not of globes, Similar-to the Harrison gleam generntcr n ich the liquefied gee, and piece them under the seats in the car. At the depot is'tbc eteuin epgine zo fill them; they are surrounded by ice, which n'ili melt during the filling by the beat evolved dining eourcssion, but the water will freeze ngcin by the cold produced by the cxpausionpf vvibe) gas during, the trip; so every car returning to the depot will have its cylinders surrounded by ice, and will be in proper condition to be filled ugnin. The eeepping gas need not be lost, but may be received in e-bugon the top oi the cure. d am aware that a, sim'ilflr plnn has been proposed with carbonic acid gee, but the fact that this gee requires about double the prooeure of the nitrous oxide to be liquefied, and that it freezes'during its expansion, moi-res its use very objectionable; The only objection to my plan may bc'the expense of this gas, but I overcome this by an economical and easy method of prcpaiaiion. Thus for this gas eves 'only prepared by the destructive distillation of nitrate of ammonia, Almost belt of if; is converted into water-, the other he]! in nitrous oxide. Idiepense with this expensive salt'hltogethcr, and d ecompose commercial nitric acid NO, by zinc-or iron, which deprives it of port of its oxygen, and changes NO, in NO and N0 To enable others to put my invention in practical operutiom-I will give here P. full and detailed description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying droning. I v

1. The ecouomicel way of making the gas on a large scale.

A, Figure 1, is n. large Wolfe's bottle, with one narrow cjid one very wide neck. In the first is the safetytcbe 5, attached to introduce diluted nitric acid; in the other neck {one thick inclined lube 8,-3ltii0h6d t0 introduce scraps of zinc, and to give exit to the gas evo lved," ,8 is o. slop-cock, to draw ed the exhausted acid.

When diluted nitric acid, N0 acts on zinc, a mixture of nitrous and nitricozide, NO and 110,, in evolved.

These gases will ascend through the tube a, filled with scraps of zinc, which are slowly introduced at cl, and imolly full in a, lathe diluted nitric acid, and so supply this vepsel. Mo'istenell zinc hes the property of decomposing nitric oxide, N0 by absorbing one atom of oxygen and-converting itjn nitrous oxi'dello; therefore the zinc is introduced through meter in the bend c, which water also serves to close the exit of' tbe gas in d, and causes it to pass of? through the tube g, from which it may be again; passed over zinc, or, which is equally as good, over moist iron turnings or filings, to change its nitric oxide NO more completely into nitrous oxide, N0. However, when we are to condense the gap, this precaution is not so essential, us the nitric oxide NO, cannot possibly be converted to a liquid; the condensation will, therefore, as it were, squeeze the nitric oxide out of the liquefying nitrous oxide. i l

2. The compression and liquefaction of the gas. p

.H, Figure 2, is a common gas reservoir, gosometcr, which may have nny form, (and may be a bag.) The gas is received at in, end has its exit at n, where it passes through'the drying-bottle which is fillod'with chlo-' ride of calcium, i ny other hygroscopic substance, as it is found very essential that the gals should be dry before compressing it. P is n press-pump, consisting of three narrow cylinders cud pistons, driven by three cranksvon the axisof one or two wheels,'\vhich cranks make with one another angles of: one hundred and twenty.

degrees. In order to have no dead-point, but a continuous stream of gas, the pumps are placed in a. box niih ice in order. to keep them cool, as a greet heat is developed during compression. The flywheels Q may be turned by manpower, or better, by. steam. Ror R is n globular vessel, to receive the liquid gas; it is also placed in ice.

Iris made of cast iron, secured by sorew'e and bolts, and tested to withstand the pressure of one hundred atmospheres or fifteen hundred pounds to the squure inch. These globular vessels are intended to be sent there where the gas is needed, the most convenient size for transportation being one or two gallons for medical use. For

other vorious purposes the vessel may be'proportiouete to the requirements of the case.

What I claim as my "invention, and'wieh to' secure by Letters Patent, is-

'1. The new economical method 0F making nitrous oxide gas, above described.

'2. The apparatus for compressing and liquefying it, as above described.

3. The use of the seme'liquefied gas, after its. re-expcnsion, ai-on ansest'utic for surgical operutioue, and

anti-spasmodic in codes of typhoid fvr, eholera,'&c.,' and other medical operations.

4. The use, as a substitute forloxygen, for the Drumm'oud or calcium light, or hydiooxygen blow-pipe, for magic lanterns, lightliouses, melting ofplatinum, 85c. r

5. Iis'use as a bleaching, oxidizing, deo'dorizirzg, and'dlsinfecting agent.

6. its use of the liquefied gas/os ejtore of motive power for driving railroad cars and other contrivancep,

In lestimon y whorooflhlivc signed my nameto this specification in the presence of two subscribing wituesrien.

' P. H. VANDER WEYDE.

Witnesses J. L, Fn ipsr, 7

LOUIS Dig Roxanna. 

